TGV breaks train speed record

CNN

PARIS, France (AP) -- France broke the world speed record on rails Tuesday with a souped-up fast train, a feat to showcase the technology it is trying to sell to overseas markets including China.

The new record is expected to gild France's image in the expanding market for high-speed technology as countries like China turn to bullet trains.

The black-and-chrome train with three double-decker cars sped along a new line linking Paris to eastern France, starting in the town of Preny. It broke the 1990 rail record, also held by a French train, of 515.3 kph (320.2 mph).

The specially designed train was outfitted to reach up to 540 kph (335.5 mph) -- about the speed of a short-distance freight propeller plane.

The TGV, short for "train a grande vitesse," as France's bullet trains are called, is made up of three double-decker cars between two engines. It has been equipped with larger wheels than the usual TGV to cover more ground with each rotation and a stronger, 25,000-horsepower engine, said Alain Cuccaroni, in charge of the technical aspects of testing.

Adjustments have also been made to the new track, which opens June 10, notably the banking on turns. Rails were also treated for perfect contact, Cuccaroni said.

The electrical tension in the overhead cable was beefed up, from 25,000 volts to 31,000. Tuesday was the first time that double-decker cars were being used at such a high speed, according to officials of Alstom, which makes TGVs and which crawled back a year ago from the edge of bankruptcy.

The double-decker cars were transformed into a laboratory for the event so that technicians from the state-run rail company SNCF and Alstom can gather data during the run.

Japan holds the absolute speed record for a train, with its magnetically levitated Maglev train that skims over a guideway on powerful magnetic fields without ever touching the track.

The Maglev set a record of 581 kph (361 mph) in 2003. The goal of the operation, called V150, is more than "simply breaking a record," Cuccaroni said.

Test data should help improve the security and comfort of passengers in the future, he said. France competes with neighboring Germany and with Japan for contracts.

Transport Minister Dominique Perben received a California delegation hours before Tuesday's record attempt. California is studying prospects for a high-speed line running from Sacramento in the north to San Diego, in the south, via San Francisco and Los Angeles. China, the biggest potential market, was to start building a high-speed line this year between Beijing and Shanghai to cut travel time from nine hours to five.